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Axle Deadlift

intermediate · hinge

Axle Deadlift

Setup

Stand with the axle bar (a thick solid bar with no spin, unlike a barbell) right against your shins, feet hip-width apart. With no true axle bar, wrap a thick towel around a regular barbell to mimic the larger grip diameter.

Execution

  1. Hinge your hips back and bend your knees to grip the bar just outside your legs, shoulders slightly ahead of it.
  2. Take a breath into your belly, brace your core, lift your chest and lock your lower back into a natural straight line before you pull.
  3. Drive through your heels, keep the bar dragging up your shins the whole way, and let your knees track toward your toes.
  4. Once the bar clears your knees, drive your hips forward to finish tall, squeezing your shoulder blades together at the top.
  5. Exhale at the top, then hinge your hips back to lower the bar to the floor under control, never dropping it.

Breathing

Breathe in at the setup and brace your core, then exhale steadily all the way through the pull and finish the breath out as you stand tall. Do not hold your breath to move more weight than you can handle; if you have high blood pressure, heart disease, a hernia or you are pregnant, never hold it and use a lighter load.

Quick cues

  • Drag the bar up your shins.
  • Chest up before you pull.
  • Push the floor, don't yank the bar.
  • Grip hard, the bar is fatter than a barbell.
  • Hips through at the top, don't lean back.

Common faults

  • Fault: Hips shooting up before the shoulders leave the floor

    Fix: Drop the weight and drill the pull with an empty bar, keeping the back angle fixed until the bar passes the knees.

  • Fault: The lower back rounding as the bar passes the knees

    Fix: Drop the load one increment, brace the core harder before the pull, and end the set if the back keeps rounding.

  • Fault: Leaning back excessively at lockout

    Fix: Stop at a tall standing position, squeeze the glutes instead of arching further, and rehearse the lockout with a lighter load first.

  • Fault: Losing grip mid-pull because the axle is thicker and more slippery than a barbell

    Fix: Use chalk or switch to a mixed grip, one palm forward one back, and drop the load until you can hold on for the whole set.

Equipment

other

Muscle groups

back, glutes, legs, arms